BRO plans to link Leh and Srinagar with all-weather roads

The travails of travelling to Ladakh by road from Srinagar may be a thing of the past.

The region remains cut off from the Valley for months during winter because of snow. Now the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is planning to construct an all-weather tunnel at Zojila pass that will link Jammu and Kashmir with Ladakh, making the region accessible throughout the year.

This apart, the BRO is planning to build at least five more tunnels to link different regions of the state which remains out of bounds during the harsh winter.

The BEACON project of the BRO will see two tunnels being constructed on the 434-kilometre long Srinagar-Leh highway.

"To make the Srinagar-Leh an all-weather road, two tunnels, one at Z-Morh in Sonamarg and another at Zojila have been planned. The Z-Morh and Zojila tunnels will be 6.5km and 12km long, respectively. The feasibility studies are at an advanced stage," BEACON chief engineer, Brigadier TPS Rawat, said.

The Union Ministry of Surface Transport and Highways has already approved the construction of the Zojila tunnel connecting Kashmir Valley with Ladakh.

The Jammu and Kashmir minister for transport, Qamar Ali Akhoon, said the detailed project (DPR) has been submitted to the Union ministry in March. The tunnel, Akhoon said, is part of the Prime Minister's Reconstruction Plan (PMRP) and the foundation stone laying ceremony for the first phase of the tunnel is likely to be held in August this year.

This apart, plans are afoot to construct a tunnel linking the picturesque Gurez Valley with Srinagar. Another all-weather tunnel is also being proposed to negotiate the Sadhna pass while efforts are on to build a tunnel between Sinthan and Singpura in Kishtwar district of Jammu.

Rawat said the feasibility study on the 18km-long Razdhan tunnel that will link Gurez with the Kashmir Valley started in October last year.

Rawat said another 4.5km-long tunnel is being planned to negotiate the Sadhna pass in Tangdhar Valley. Sadhna pass is located in the lap of Shamsbari mountain range in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir and remains closed during winters.

Another ambitious project is to construct the Sinthan-Singpura tunnel to develop an alternate allweather road for the Kashmir Valley. The tunnel between Sinthan in south Kashmir and Singhpora in Kishtwar district of Jammu, once completed, will link the Valley with Kishtwar. It will also provide an alternative road link to the Srinagar-Jammu highway.

The 5km-long Sinthan tunnel will be financed by the Jammu and Kashmir Bank and `640 crore has already been earmarked for the road.